Bystander training
Who are bystanders to sexual harassment and what role do they play in preventing and responding to sexual harassment in the workplace?
a bystander is a person who observes sexual harassment firsthand or hears about it subsequently1
A bystander is typically a co-worker who is informed or sees sexual harassment at work. Hearing about sexual harassment through the grapevine is a common way in which co-workers hear about sexual harassment. Bystanders can be informal or formal. The difference between an informal and a formal bystander is that formal bystanders are authorized to receive reports of workplace sexual harassment and informal bystanders are not authorized but see or hear about it anyway.
Given that we know from the 2018 National Survey that only one in three bystanders take any action in response to seeing or hearing about sexual harassment and that less than half of these cases were reported to employers, it’s clear that we need to encourage and support bystanders to come forward, as they do play a very important role in prevention and response.
So, how do we encourage bystanders to act? Our Watch have developed five enablers to encourage active bystanders. Bystanders are more willing to act if they:
- have support and encouragement from their peers or organisation;
- have an awareness of what constitutes sexual harassment;
- have empathy for the victim;
- have and sense of responsibility and power to intervene, and
- understand the appropriate response processes.
There are also barriers to becoming and active bystander that are important to understand. These are:
- failure to recognise that there is a problem.
- adherence to traditional roles;
- a perception that their actions would be ineffective;
- fears of consequences of taking action;
- worries about their image, and
- unequal power dynamics, for example if the perpetrator is a boss.
Keeping in mind these enablers and barriers for bystander action, there are actions employers and employees can take to encourage and support bystanders. Click on the links below:
1Paula McDonald and Michael Flood, Encourage. Support. Act! Bystander Approaches to Sexual Harassment in the Workplace (Australian Human Rights Commission, June 2012) 3, 8.